Emergency Medicine (Research Paper Sample)

Emergency Medicine
Research Paper
Medicine and Health
Number of Pages: 10
7th December 2015
Emergency Medicine Blogs
There are many medical specialties that exist in the field worldwide. Emergency Medicine is one of those specialties and it generally involves caring for patients who have emergency conditions which require attention at the immediate response. This type of care is handled by Emergency Physicians, who take action and respond in the quickest way possible by intervening and helping patients to be stable. These physicians also handle illnesses of minor concern since their care is on a 24-hour basis. They perform their duties in Emergency Departments in hospitals, Intensive Care Units and other settings like clinics (Razaak 213).
The concept of Emergency Medicine started during the French Revolution, when the surgeon in the military by the name Dominique Jean Larrey did an application of his ambulance idea to carry soldiers who were wounded and take them to a central area where they would receive urgent medical care. This method was effective as many soldiers were readily accessible and efficiently taken care of. Dominique was joined by trained drivers, corps and litter services to undertake this task. This lead to an effective creation of hospitalized modern units. Due to this ingenious invention, many people refer to him as the Father of Emergency Medicine (Edmundson 18).
Emergency Medicine actually came to be recognized especially in the United States in 1979, when the American College of Emergency Physicians was introduced. Thorough training was conducted under this field and a vote of historical resemblance cast by the American Board of Medical Specialties made Emergency Medicine a specialty ("Emergency Department”).
The internet has greatly contributed to the great achievements of Emergency Medicine. There are blogs all over the internet which are quite an effective tool both to doctors and the entire field as well. These blogs tend to inform and educate on the various ways of procedures used when handling emergency complications, whether illnesses or injuries. They are effective techniques that help doctors and other people to attend to urgent cases as they occur. Experienced persons make these blogs and as a result, anybody with an emergency casualty can follow procedures in the blogs and help save lives. Doctors, like interns use the blogs to understand the procedures better. Other people use the blogs to handle emergencies if they are not readily accessible to the nearest clinic or hospital.
The need for quick response to emergencies led to the evolution of Emergency Medicine blogs. In the 20th century, there were technological problems since most equipment was too big to be mobilized in the doctor’s bag. People increasingly went to the hospitals with an urgent condition simply because am ambulance was available but no qualified physician was available. Physicians also shifted from call emergency to establishing practices with working hours. This has over the years immensely changed as the blogs give all information needed therefore increasing chances of survival (Rhodes 365).
When an emergency occurs, the qualified physicians might not respond immediately due to unavoidable factors like traffic. These blogs are well explained on all procedures required for the urgent case and, therefore, they are both informative and help save time to handle the emergency. One only has to call the emergency Medicine Unit and an ambulance is sent with a physician with all the necessary equipment. If the condition is critical, the patient is taken to the Intensive Care Unit immediately for further procedure.
The need for the use of social media is even being advocated by the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors. According to them, the internet is a powerful tool where training programs related to this specialty can be accessed. With the wide use of internet today, it is very easy and simple to access any blog related to Emergency Medicine. Below are some examples of Emergency Medicine blogs which show a clear picture of how information is available worldwide.
/ Adventure Medicine
http://drsamko.blogspot.com/ -Adventures in Emergency Medicine
http://emcrit.org/ -EMCrit Blog ("Emergency Medicine Blogs”)
The proliferation of Emergency Medicine blogs is also made popular by the Free Open Access Medical Education movement. Researchers have developed indicators of quality work to enhance credibility of the resources online. Brent Thoma, a lead study author, has talked of developing a user friendly blog tool to improve content on the web ("Social Media in Emergency Medicine 104). Information shared worldwide helps physicians get to fill knowledge gaps and improve Emergency Medicine practice.
Emergency Medicine blogs reach a wide variety of people since there are always emergency conditions worldwide. These blogs pose an opportunity to write a large amount of content in many media forms like video, audio and text. The blogs have an open forum where a reader can comment on the published blog, thus enabling conversation. This is a good way of sharing ideas between the blogger and the reader, increasing efficiency in this specialty since accuracy is a priority when it comes to human health. Videos can be a very efficient form since they show the practical procedure with a patient being attended to live. Audios give an in-depth explanation as well as the text method (George, Rovniak 453-462).
These blogs are also used by physicians to communicate with colleagues in this specialty. More information is always beneficial to our physicians and thus, as more and more emergency cases prop up, these blogs are very educative and informative to enhance and improve efficiency. These types of blogs are only accessible to professions of this specialty. Different subjects involving Emergency Medicine are discussed, thus, enough support is given to them. Physicians in Developing countries also have the means to connect to these blogs which shows how much information is drove across the world ("Social Media is Exploding”).
Video blogs come in handy since they give a clear picture of how a certain emergency was dealt with. There are many illnesses in Third world countries and thus blogs are an informative way of how to deal with them to the rest of the world. However, the access to internet should be available for this to happen. Emergency Medicine practices in developed countries usually help the Third World countries, with the many terrorist attacks being reported. Others have set up branches there for easy access and response time (George 456).
Blogs are usually free or inexpensive. This is an advantage to any person blogging about Emergency Medicine since there are no or very low costs incurred in the process. Thus, everyone with knowledge can share in these blogs without any hindrances. This gives one much space to publish as much blogs as possible. The more the information, the more informed the users of that information will be.
Blogs in this field have also enhanced increased education. More and more people are adapting to the use of internet which is a sign of a changing culture to students joining this specialty. Medical schools are using the blogs to market what they offer, how they recruit new students and other useful information to attract more people to join this specialty. The teaching methods are also encouraged by use of blogs to gain and experience more knowledge and practical examples are found online. There are blogs with questions which help students revise and understand more of the subjects they pursue. This is all to increase the number of physicians who will be trained, thus improving efficiency and response time to emergencies since more physicians are available. The higher the number, the more the Emergency Medicine department will thrive at what they do.
Emergency Medicine blogs are also used to promote healthcare organizations. They provide a channel for resources for any patient, customer support and service. This helps people have confidence in these practices which is a good thing for the practices. People tend to prefer hospitals that are well known for their services. This will increases the public confidence and ensures that services are provided. Through blogging, people will know where these facilities are located.
Patient care is another use of these blogs. Patients are given a platform to ask queries regarding emergencies to their doctors. The doctors respond with an in-depth description of exactly what the patients require to know to perform any emergency case. This is effect since patients trust their doctors and so any information given to them is reliable and of sound quality. The doctors also get a chance to monitor their patients, requesting to know whether all went well which leads to better outcomes. Patients can also interact with other patients, giving support, reference and advice on similar conditions affected by them. The peer-to-peer support is good for them and things like fundraising to support the affiliated people is possible here. This leads to patient satisfaction, which is the goal for Emergency Medicine blogs( Farnan, Snyder 620-627).
Emergency Medicine as a practice is a passion to many of the physicians and other qualified personnel. Having an Emergency Medicine blog helps one to share their passion and also get a platform to express themselves. People voice their thoughts and ideas both learnt in school and also personal experience regarding practice of Emergency Medicine. There are people who just love to teach and what a better way than to create blogs and teach people your knowledge.
A blog in Emergency Medicine helps one to build their network professionally. Networking is a very important tool to facilitate growth either personally or professionally. ...